Dave Delaney: Take control of an overflowing email inbox

Dec. 8, 2013

Keeping up with an email inbox can be a difficult task. / Getty Images / iStockphoto

Written by

Dave Delaney

For The Tennessean

If you are anything like me, your email inbox tends to overflow this time of year.

Retailers are sending you their seasonal offers, and spammers are doing the same. Your friends and family are sending you seasonal messages of merriment, your work projects are wrapping up and you are busy preparing for business in the first quarter of next year.

Your overflowing inbox probably has you feeling just a tad overwhelmed, or perhaps as sour as the Grinch himself. That’s no way to feel at this festive time of the year.

A 2012 study by McKinsey Global Institute and International Data Corp. found that more than a quarter of the average worker’s day is spent on email. Let’s take a moment to explore some ways to regain control of your inbox. ”

Tips for making an inbox manageable

The Email Game allows Gmail and Google email users to have some fun by visiting http://emailga.me. Using the Email Game, you race against the clock to deal with your unruly inbox.

By replying, archiving and deleting messages, you turn your animated indifferent face to a big, smiling happy face. You can also share your inbox annihilation scores on Twitter and Facebook.

I love this amazing tool. When I have a new potential client contact me for consulting work or to schedule a speaking engagement, I always use Boomerang when I reply. By doing this, I can make the email reappear in my inbox at a certain time and date if they have not replied yet. This helps keep me organized and prepared to follow up if I haven’t heard back.

Boomerang also allows you to send a message later at a certain time and date in the future. Check out Boomerang at: http://www.baydin.com.

Unroll.me works on just about every popular email service.

After setting this up, you will be provided with a long (sometimes frighteningly long) list of the email newsletters you are subscribed to. You can simply unsubscribe from the emails you no longer want, this includes those countless Facebook and Twitter notification messages.

This doesn’t take long and will end up saving you time and help you manage your inbox.

Gmail users need to take advantage of the many helpful tools in the labs section. Click “Settings” in your email and scroll across to “Labs.” If you have trouble locating it, just search Google for “Gmail Labs.”

Here are a couple of my favorites to help manage my inbox.

Canned Responses: If you find you’re writing the same thing quite often, you can create a canned response. A quick click of the button and your emails will be automatically composed with the pre-written message.

Undo Send: Admit it, you have hit the “send” button and suddenly noticed an embarrassing typo. Enabling Undo Send gives you a few extra seconds to retract your message after you have sent it. This is a life saver, especially when you have sent a message using an incorrect name (which I may or may not have done — once. OK, twice.)

There are also mobile applications to help you manage your inbox when you are out and about this holiday season.

One of my favorites is Mailbox for iPhone/iPad/Gmail. This handy app allows you to make the message disappear and reappear at a later date and time. Consider rescheduling those work-related emails that appear while you’re enjoying your holidays with your family. Download the app from www.mailboxapp.com.

Finally, I asked my Twitter followers, “What are you using to tame your inbox?” and their replies were priceless:

@SuzanneNorman: Anger, mostly?

@SuzeMuse: Oh, I’m supposed to CHECK that?

@WillBogel: unsubscribe button. Search. And not worrying about inbox zero.

@CalEvans: the trashcan icon. :)

How do you manage your inbox, especially as it begins to overflow during the holidays? Leave a comment or reach out to me on Twitter with your tips @davedelaney.

Happy holidays!

Dave Delaney is a digital marketing consultant in Nashville. Contact him on Twitter @davedelaney or from davedelaney.me.